Last day Tour of Croatia loss for Roson

Jaime Roson (Caja-Rural Seguros RGA) started the final day of the Tour of Croatia with a narrow two-second lead over Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) but was unable to hold off the Italian, conceding the lead and dropping to second place. Roson, 24, moved into the overall lead on stage 3 before losing the leader's jersey to Nibali the day next. He regained the lead with his stage 5 win only to lose it again on the final day. Nibali's winning margin was eight seconds.

"Clearly its been a difficult day for us," said Roson who won the points classification as a consolation. "The team had done great work all this week, so in that sense its a pity. I lost this battle to one of the greatest cyclists in history, so it's not so bad when you think of it like that.In the mountains I was the strongest, but the strongest doesn't always win. I'll leave with my head held high as there is a long season ahead so this result is not the end of the world."

The result was Roson's best yet of the season, and career, after his third place on GC at Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali in March.

Jai Hindley continues Australian success in Italy at Trofeo Citta di San Vendemiano

With Lucas Hamilton forced to miss the Trofeo Citta di San Vendemiano as he recovered from being hit by a car, Australian National U23 teammate Jai Hindley made it five consecutive podiums for the squad at the Italian one-day race. The team's run started with Hamilton who was second at Trofeo Edil, Giro del Belvedere, G.P. Palio del Recioto, and third at the U23 edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège. In the absence of his teammate, Hindley took up the reins of the squad only to fall short in a sprint against Nicola Conci (Zalf Euromobil Fior) for the win on Sunday.

"It feels awesome to finally get a podium, obviously I'm disappointed not to get the win, but I couldn't have given it anything more," said Hindley, who was second on GC at the Herald Sun Tour in February.

"The whole team rode perfectly all day with good communication out on the road. Then the guys set me up with perfect lead out leading into the descent before the second last climb. Then on the last climb a group of four went over the top and stayed away until the finish. I sprinted for second with Michael Storer not far behind as well."

The U23 race has been kind to Australians in recent years with Simon Clarke the 2008 winner while Caleb Ewan, Rob Power and Pat Lane have all finished on the podium. For Hindley, the run of early season form is off the back a full quota of racing over the Australian summer.

"I was really grateful to get the start in Cadel's and Down Under and I think I really benefited from racing at that level," said the 20-year-old. "I think the new team has gelled really well which shows in the results. It's a great bunch of guys who are all strong riders in their own right. I'm super happy to be apart of it."

In 2017, the Australian national team returns to the Giro della Valle d'Aosta having missed the race last year and will also line out at the 'Baby Giro' which returns to the U23 calendar.

"At this point, we simply ask everyone in the cycling community to please keep Chad in their thoughts and prayers," the team's general manager Axel Merckx explained.

For Narvaez, it was a difficult day with Young's crash as the Ecuadoran continued his winning start to 2016 following his Circuit des Ardennes International success.

"I am very grateful to my team and sponsors," Narvaez said. "It has really been a complicated day. I think Rally showed how solid they are with how they dominated the race. I feel I was able to race intelligently and was able to win. I am very happy and feel it has been a tough day. But it is very special for me to have won."

The American Continental team finished the race with Narvaez sixth overall and winner of the best young rider classification.

ONE Pro apologise for McCormick gesture

ONE Pro Cycling have issued an apology and made a donation to charity after their rider Hayden McCormick made a middle-finger gesture at Dan Fleeman, who beat him to the line at the Rutland-Melton CiCLE Classic on Sunday.

McCormick’s discontent reportedly emerged from confusion over whether Fleeman, having bridged to the lead group, would sprint for the win, and the Kiwi made no secret of his feelings in the finish line shot.

“He was saying something to me about not sprinting but, you know, when it’s 100 metres to go, and it’s the biggest one-day race in the country, who’s going to blame me for sprinting?" Fleeman told VeloUK after the race.

The ONE Pro team soon issued a statement, saying: “On behalf of the team we would like to apologise to the race organisers, Dan Fleeman and the Metaltek-Kuota team and all cycling fans and supporters for any offence caused. This behaviour will not be tolerated and the matter is being dealt with very seriously.

The team promised to donate the entirety of the prize money they earned at the race to a charity of the organisers’ choice, and it was confirmed on Monday that £1365 would be going to The Mount Group, Riding for the Disabled.

“Anyone who has worked with ONE Pro Cycling as I have for many years, knows that they are a thoroughly professional team. What happened yesterday was totally out of character with how they operate and it is clear that they wish to disassociate themselves fully from the incident involving one of their riders in a ‘heat of the moment’ race situation,” race director Colin Clews told VeloUK.

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